by Eric Vall
Her green eyes were glittering a bit while her cheeks flushed lightly, and I was pleased to see her looking forward to another “new” experience. Clearly getting a private audience with me had settled her nerves a lot.
“Aleia, remember, whatever you want to do is what I want to do,” I reminded the fairy. “That means if you don’t feel ready for the wilder stuff--”
“Well,” Aleia cut in, and I heard Penelope gasp with excitement. “I-I wouldn’t say I don’t feel ready. I want to have fun with all of you. Maybe… maybe I can watch the wilder stuff to uh… get a clearer understanding.”
“Maybe I can watch you watch the wilder stuff,” I said in an implying tone. “I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you, princess?”
“My lord!” Aleia gasped, and I noticed Nicola looking up at the fairy with a very pleased expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I bet you don’t,” I laughed.
“Aleia, what did you say?” Penelope shouted. “It’s so loud up here, I can hardly hear you and Jack! Did he say you can watch first?”
“Nothing!” the fairy promptly hollered back.
Then Nicola chuckled to herself and tactfully changed the subject for her sister.
“It’s strange how the trees change so quickly,” Nicola remarked as she looked down at the ground. “One minute, it’s a thick forest, the next it’s these scrawny little evergreen trees.”
“I know,” Penelope said as she gazed around with wide eyes. “I can’t believe how different it is.”
After several minutes, the fairy approached the vicinity of the goblin camp, and Nicola and Penelope gulped as the strawberry-blonde swerved downward.
“Okay, I’m starting to feel a little nervous now that I can see the lights,” Penelope whispered.
“Yeah, you’re going to want to stay silent and pay extra close attention, especially because the trees are so thin,” I told the women. “Don’t use the flashlight. You’re only about a hundred yards away now.”
“What’s the exact plan?” Penelope asked.
“You’re going to stay far away enough that they can’t hear you, Penelope and Nicola, and then Aleia can come get you after she’s disabled the guards and gotten the key,” I explained.
“So, how far should we go before we let Aleia drop us off and fly ahead?” Penelope asked as she nervously twirled a strand of long, blonde hair around her finger. “It seems like we’re getting awfully close to that light…”
“I agree, I think you should stop now,” I said. “Aleia, are you ready to do this?”
“If this is what it takes to get Roza back, I’ll do anything,” the fairy said as she fluttered her wings and hovered a few feet off the ground. “Wish me luck, sisters.”
“You can do it!” Nicola encouraged the strawberry-blonde. “We’ll see you in a couple minutes.”
Aleia flew up into the air, took a deep breath, and soared about a hundred feet directly over the guards.
“Only a few more hours,” Deep snickered. “I can’t wait until we can bring down Orm and Robert and steal their prize money.”
“Maybe we should wait until they already have the money,” Squeaky mused. “We can let them take care of the dirty work with the baby, and rob them afterward.”
“That’s a good idea,” the deep-voiced gobin admitted. “But, on the other hand, part of me wants to get a piece of the action while it’s still going on. And then we can shake down the gnomes for more when they come to get the baby.”
“Yeah!” Squeaky cheered. “You’re brilliant.”
“I’m nervous,” Aleia admitted to me as she hovered high above the two goblins and listened. “I hope I’m a good shot.”
“I’ve seen you be so quick with your hands,” I told the strawberry-blonde beauty. “If you do it right, it will only take two fast shots to knock them out long enough to handle all of this.”
“Okay,” the fairy sighed. Her hands shook a little as she loaded the sling, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. Then the strawberry-blonde looked at the men on the ground, swung the sling over her head, and released.
The rock hit Squeaky directly in the temple, and it knocked him to his knees.
“Hey--” Deep started to shout, but then Aleia shot another stone that hit the larger goblin directly in the face. Deep collapsed to the ground and smashed his head directly into the stone wall behind him, and he slumped down to the ground as his eyes fluttered shut.
“Yikes,” I snorted. “That should keep him knocked out for a while…”
“Wow.” Aleia closed her eyes and gasped for breath. “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Do you think they’re both out?”
“I actually do,” I replied. “You hit them in exactly the right spots.”
Squeaky remained on his knees for a moment, but then he toppled face-first into the dirt. No blood had spilled from his body, and he twitched from time to time, so I figured he was alright.
Or so I hoped because I really didn’t like the odds of three women against a “clan” of goblins.
Deep had a hell of a bloody nose, but he was twitchy himself. He made a strange choking noise that almost sounded like snoring as his eyelids jerked around for a few seconds before they went still. I wasn’t worried he was going to die, but I didn’t think Aleia was going to wake him up when she went down to get the key, either.
“I did good, right, master?” Aleia asked in a weak voice with her eyes still squeezed shut.
“You did more than good,” I assured the fairy. “You were perfect, but you still need to find the key on the bigger guard. If you could just swoop down and grab it out of his jacket pocket, you’d be almost done with this part of your mission.”
“Yes, I can do this.” The strawberry-blonde flew down to the guards’ bodies with a grimace on her face, and she tentatively approached Deep. His jacket was spotted with the blood that had spilled down from his nose, and Aleia scrunched up her face with disgust as she reached down into his pocket.
Aleia came up empty on her first try, and she wiped her bloody hand on her robe before she stuck her hand into Deep’s other pocket. This time, I saw the fairy remove a small item, and she smiled with satisfaction before she propelled herself off the ground.
“You got it!” I praised the strawberry-blonde. “I’m so proud.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Aleia said with a sickly smile on her face. “I’m glad I was able to get the key.”
“I want you to check the other one’s pockets, too,” I said to the fairy. “It never hurts to see if there are more keys around.”
“Yes, I understand,” the strawberry-blonde sighed, and she floated over to check Squeaky’s pockets. When she reached in, she actually grinned, and she pulled out a ring of keys.
“Nice find!” I told Aleia. “But there’s one last thing. I need you to hide the bodies.”
“Should I just drag them away, my lord?” the fairy asked as her eyes scanned the shadowy woods. “I think that patch of shrubs over there might be best. It looks like it’s the thickest foliage.”
“It’s only about twenty feet away,” I observed. “You can easily get them that far. Just pick them up and fly them over there.”
The fairy said with a nod, but then she shuddered. “Ugh. I don’t really like handling goblin bodies, though.”
Aleia floated over to Deep’s body, and she hefted it up under her arm. The goblin was almost as big as the petite fairy, but she picked him up with ease, as usual. Then she headed over to Squeaky, and with a small grunt, she soared up into the air with both bodies.
“Luckily, it’s a grassy area,” I mused as she flew. “You can’t really see the blood in the light from the torches, and if the rest of the goblins discover them, it will look like they just took a bad fall. They may not want to admit they were robbed of their keys, but that’s up to them.”
“That makes sense,” the strawberry-blonde agreed. “I hope we get to leave with Roza
quickly. Look, there’s a small clearing in the center of this grove of bushes.”
Aleia gestured downward, and then she swooped closer to the ground and laid each body down in the center of the evergreen bushes.
“Good job,” I praised the priestess. “I’m sure you’re glad that part is over.”
“Is there anything else, my lord?” the fairy asked as she dusted off her hands. “I’d really like to go back to my sisters now.”
“No, that’s all I needed you to do here, since it doesn’t look like there’s anything else worth taking,” I replied. “Their swords aren’t nearly as nice as the ones the gnomes gave you and Penelope.”
“So, we’re done over here?” the fairy asked as her face softened with relief. “I can’t wait to get away from these bodies.”
The fairy soared over to where the other two priestesses were hiding behind scanty pine trees. She drifted down and landed with a slightly ill expression, and as soon as Penelope saw the anxious look on the fairy’s face, she reached out her slim blue arms.
“Come here, Aleia,” the naiad cooed. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” the strawberry-blonde sighed as she snuggled up to the light blue woman’s chest. “It’s all in the name of getting Roza back, and I got the key to the stables.”
“Should we go, then?” Nicola asked as she jumped nervously from foot to foot. “I’m tired of waiting.”
“Jack wants us to wait for a few minutes longer,” Aleia explained. “We need to make sure no one is coming.”
“Did you hear someone yell from over here?” I asked. “One of the guards shouted briefly before Aleia hit him.”
“I might have heard something, but it went away really fast,” Penelope said as she shook her head. “But it didn’t sound like a yell.”
“I wonder if the guard made a noise when he fell.” The fairy stared down at the ground.
“What did you do over there, Aleia?” Nicola asked with wide eyes.
“I just hit a couple of guards with rocks,” the fairy said. “It really wasn’t that big a deal.”
“She was incredible,” I told the other two women. “She took them both down with one shot each.”
“Nice work, sister!” Penelope patted Aleia on the back and then pulled her in for another hug. “I’m so proud of you.
“You’re all doing great so far,” I said to the priestesses.
“We haven’t even done anything yet, master,” Penelope giggled. “We still need to make it to the stables.”
“That’s not going to be a problem either,” I assured the naiad. “You can all tiptoe, right?”
“Of course, my lord,” Aleia laughed.
“Well, I’m not as quiet as a fairy, but I can try,” Nicola sighed. “Where are we going again?”
“Do you see up there where the torches are?” I asked the women. “A trail runs in front of there, and if you keep heading uphill, you’ll find the stables. You’ll be quieter off the trail, but it won’t be hard to make it through the woods.”
“That’s not too far.” The brunette nodded. “And you’re sure you have the right key?”
“We have a whole ring of keys,” Aleia boasted.
“Wow,” Nicola said with an impressed look. “How did you get that?”
“I had to dig in their bloody pockets,” Aleia replied as she wrinkled her face. “It was disgusting.”
“Ew,” Penelope responded with a frown. “Poor sister.”
“We’ll be in and out of there soon,” Nicola promised. “We’ll just take care of Orm and Robert, get Roza, and go.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I agreed. “So, if you keep heading uphill, eventually you’ll get to a huge metal gate. That’s your destination.”
“We can do this!” Penelope put her hand on her sword. “I know I’m ready.”
The women began to hike slowly up the side of the mountain, and they managed not to make a sound. After about ten minutes of creeping along with no incidents, the women reached the edge of the trail that ran along the hillside. The stable entrance loomed in front of them like a huge black mouth, and thick, vertical metal bars stretched from top to bottom where they paused to await instructions.
“So, Roza’s back here?” Penelope gasped. “This is scary.”
“I agree, and it’s a good thing the gnomes didn’t try to rescue her,” Nicola commented as she stared at the gaping hole in the mountainside. “They could never have hiked up here quickly enough.”
“Do we just go open it, Jack?” Aleia whispered as she clutched the single key in her hand. “Is there anything we need to know?”
I tried to zoom down through the mountain, but I couldn’t see inside the caves.
“Just try to be as quiet as you can,” I instructed the priestesses. “Don’t crunch too much on that gravel path.”
“Let’s do this, sisters,” Nicola whispered, and the other two women nodded.
The gravel made more noise than I would have liked, but the priestesses reached the large gate after a few long moments. The lock was low to the ground and at goblin level, but the iron bars stretched far above the women’s heads.
“Go for it, Aleia,” I instructed the fairy.
“The key is covered in blood,” Aleia complained as she held the dirty object in a small, shaking hand, and then she attempted to insert it into the keyhole. At first, the strawberry-blonde was trembling too much, but I finally heard the bolt click open.
“Wow, it worked,” Penelope breathed. “And, ew, it smells like horses.”
“It is a stable,” Aleia whisper-laughed.
“Horses don’t sleep all night like people do,” Nicola, the animal expert, informed us. “We can’t sneak by them, so all we can do is hope they don’t get too loud.”
“Isn’t there something you can do?” Penelope asked. “We know you have special skills with animals.”
“Maybe I could calm them down a little,” Nicola mused. “Perhaps I’ll be able to connect with them like I did with that cougar.”
“Just try,” the naiad encouraged her. “I believe in you, sister.”
“Should I open the door?” Aleia asked. “Are you ready to head into the stables?”
“Go ahead,” I urged the priestesses. “It’s now or never. You need to move quickly before someone discovers the bodies.
The fairy pulled on the gate, and it started to screech open.
“What are we going to do about that?” Aleia whispered as she froze. “It’s so loud!”
“Just open it as far as you have to and squeeze through,” I instructed the fairy. “You’re all small, so it shouldn’t take much.”
“If you’re sure, master,” Aleia said in a hesitant voice.
“I don’t think we have another choice,” Penelope said as she anxiously wrung her hands. “Roza is in there, I can feel it.”
Aleia pulled the gate open a few more inches, and I held my virtual breath the whole time the hinges squealed. The opening finally got wide enough for the priestesses to slip through, though, and they crept inside the dark stables.
There were about fifteen stalls, and each had a small horse similar to the ones Robert and Orm had been riding when they’d been at the gnome camp. The cave’s ceiling was probably around twenty feet off the ground, and it loomed over the priestesses’ heads.
As I got used to the lack of light, I saw there were two interior exits to the room. There was a small, closed door in the wall opposite the gate as well as an open corridor that led off to the far side. The corridor was completely dark, so I wondered if it was shut at the other end.
The horses immediately started to neigh louder and stomp their feet upon the priestesses’ entry to the stable. Then one of the pack animals seemed to crash into the door of its stall, and it made a loud cracking noise.
“I think we’re upsetting the horses,” Nicola fretted as she looked doubtfully at the stalls.
“Shh,” Penelope suddenly said as she put a finger to her lip
s. “I think I hear Roza.”
“All I hear is horses neighing,” the brunette said in a dubious voice.
“No, there’s a baby crying!” the naiad insisted. “Please, Nicola, do what you can to calm the horses so I can listen.”
“Okay, I’m going to try,” Nicola responded, and the dark-haired woman closed her eyes to concentrate. Then she put her palms up into the air and took slow, deep breaths.
“Is it working?” the naiad whispered, but Aleia put a finger to her lips.
The horses in the stable grew quieter and quieter as Nicola breathed, and as the room stilled, there were two new noises. First, Penelope had been right, and Roza was definitely crying from somewhere. There was also a whimpering sound, though, that Nicola immediately tuned into.
“Do you hear Roza--” Aleia began.
“I do, but there’s another thing,” the dark-haired priestess whispered. “I hear a sick animal, or something.”
“We don’t have time for that,” I said in an apologetic tone, but Nicola was already over in the corner of the stable.
“It’s puppies,” the brunette breathed as she knelt down. “There are five of them, but there’s no mama dog here.”
“We need to rescue Roza!” Penelope reminded Nicola. “Like Jack said, we don’t have time for puppies.”
“Fine,” the dark-haired woman sighed, and I could see her eyes shining in the faint moonlight streaming in through the gate. “But I’m taking one when we leave.”
“Maybe--” I began.
“Hey, there’s a flickering light under that door over there.” Penelope pointed to a small entrance in the cave wall. “It’s very faint, so I didn’t notice it until now. We have to get in there! Why is Roza crying so hard?”
“I’m not sure they’re feeding her--” I began.
“What?” the naiad cried out softly. “Not feeding the baby? I’m going right in there.”
“Wait, Penelope,” Aleia whispered as she put a hand on the blue woman’s arm. “We need to wait for Jack to tell us what to do.”
“Well, what’s the plan?” Penelope asked as she vibrated with nervous energy.
